Frederick G. Payne

Frederick George Payne (24 July 1904-15 June 1978) was a Governor of Maine (R) from 5 January 1949 to 24 December 1952, succeeding Horace Hildreth and preceding Burton M. Cross; he then served as a member of the US Senate from Maine from 3 January 1953 to 3 January 1959, succeeding Owen Brewster and preceding Edmund Muskie.

Biography
Frederick George Payne was born in Lewiston, Maine on 24 July 1904, and he graduated from the Brentley School of Accounting and Finance in Boston, Massachusetts in 1925. Payne worked for a movie theater company before serving as Mayor of Augusta from 1935 to 1941. He served as Governor Sumner Sewall's state finance commissioner and budget director, and he served in the US Air Force as a Lieutenant-Colonel during World War II. In 1948, he was elected Governor of Maine, and he created a two-percent sales tax, began a long-range highway modernization program, and expanded the Maine Development Commission. In 1953, Payne was elected to the US Senate, and he banned switchblades in 1958 (blaming gang violence on Hollywood and immigrants). He was soundly defeated for re-election in 1958 by Edmund Muskie, and he died in Waldoboro, Maine in 1978 at the age of 73.